Thill-coupling.



PATENTED DEC. 15, 1903.

C. G. BRADLEY. THILL COUPLING.

APPLICATION rum) AUG. 1, 1903.

H0 MODEL.

Iii/Wavy @WWWW' tlivrrhn dramas Patented December 15, 1903.

CHRISTOPHER C. BRADLEY, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

THILL COUPLENG.

filEECIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 747,042, dated December 15, 1903.

Application filed August 1, 1903. Serial No. 167,869. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHRISTOPHER O. BRAD- LEY, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Thill-Oouplings, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in thill-couplings in which suitable packing sections are attached to a draft-eye for engaging the periphery of the coupling-pin, the object being to provide an antirattling bearing for the coupling-pin which is free from securement to said pin, so that a'single set of the packings serve for any number of thills or poles which may be attached to the draft-eye, thereby avoiding the necessity for a separate set of packings for each pair of thills or poles.

In the drawings, Figure l is an elevation, partly in section, of a thill-coupling embodying the features of my invention. Figs. 2and 3 are perspective views of the movable and fixed jaws of the draft-eye, the packing-sections being removed. Fig. 4is a perspective View of the coupling-pin and adjacent end of the thill-iron. Fig. 5 is a sectional View taken, on line 5 5, Fig. 1, showing the coupling-pin in elevation. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the detached packing-sections.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

The draft-eye of the coupling-pin preferably consists of a fixed jaw l and a movable jaw 2, hinged at 3 to the front end of the fixed jaw and having its free end held in operative position by means of a link 4, lever 5, and spring 6, the fixed jaw and spring being secured in any well-known manner to an axle 7, so that by operating the lever 5 the jaw 2 may be held or released at the will of the operator. The inner faces of these jaws are provided with circumferential grooves or recesses 8 and 9, alined with each other, and together form the greater portion of an annular groove in the draft-eye. The side walls of each are undercut, so that the groove is substantially dovetail in cross-section to receive suitable packing-sections l0 and 11.

The opposite ends of these grooves are open, and the inner faces of the jaws at the sides of the grooves are formed with concave spherical bearing-faces 12.

The packing-sections 10 and 11 are substantially duplicates of each other and are nearly semispherical bodies of leather or similar material, concavo-con vex in cross-section, and are each provided with a circumferential. rib 13, which is also dovetailed in crosssection and of substantially the same size as the groove in the jaw, which receives the same. These packings are inserted into their respective grooves either from one end of the groove, or they may be pressed into position, the object being to attach them to their respective jaws so as to be permanently fixed thereto, and it is evident that the dovetailed rib 13, entering the dovetail groove, will serve this purpose.

When the packingsections are in place, the spherical outer surface at the sides of the rib 13 rest in the seats 12, and itis obvious that this arrangement gives a broad and strong support for the packing and that the movable jaw may be swung backward and forward and the coupling-pin moved into and out of operative position without liability of displacing the packing-sections from their respective jaws.

The coupling-pin is formed with a sphcrical knuckle 15,which is inserted between the concave faces of the packing-sections of the jaws 1 and 2, so that when the jaws are closed to the position seen in Fig. 1 the interior faces of the packing-sections fit closely upon the periphery of the spherical knuckle 15.

The end openings of the jaws and packing, through which the coupling-pin passes, are sufficiently large to permit the draft-eye and coupling-pin to rock circumferentially and transversely without liability of bringing the metal parts of the coupling into contact with each other. In fact, in this instance the opposite ends of the packing-sections project into the end openings of the jaws, so as to further prevent the contact of the metal parts.

In assembling the parts of my invention the packing-sections are first inserted or pressed into the grooves of their respective jaws, by which said packings are held, and the coupling-pin is then inserted between the packing-sections and the movable jaw clamped in place by means of the lever 5 and link 4.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A thill-coupling comprising a fixed jaw anda movable jaw each having a circumferential groove in its adjacent face, packingsections having ribs entering said grooves and a coupling-pin engaged by the packing-sections.

2. In a thin-coupling, a draft-eye having a circumferential groove, a packing-ring seated in the groove and a coupling-pin inserted in the draft'eye and engaged by the packing.

3. In a thill-coupling, a draft-eye havinga circumferential groove, a coupling-pin having a spherical knuckle inserted in the drafteye and a packing having an annular rib seated in the groove, said packing having a spherical inner bearing-face engaged with the spherical knuckle.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 29th day of July, 1903.

CHRISTOPHER C. BRADLEY.

Witnesses:

HOWARD P. DENISON, MILDRED M. Now. 

